The political typology and demographics of Illinois

In advance of next week’s Republican presidential primary here in Illinois, electionate.com offers a whole bunch of FASCINATING DATAabout our state (including the map above):

Perhaps no state is more representative of the national GOP than Illinois. No, it doesn’t include sparsely populated, Paul-friendly western highlands or the Mormons of greater Utah, but it holds everything else. The Chicago area is among the wealthiest in the country, while southern Illinois, which is physically and politically closer to Alabama and Mississippi than the Windy City, is dominated by culturally southern, working-class, evangelicals. Compared to Ohio and Michigan, Illinois is slightly less evangelical and more affluent, which points toward a narrow Romney advantage.

Although many perceive this GOP primary season as especially volatile, Romney and Santorum’s share of the vote in demographically similar regions has remained remarkably stable. While events could overtake projections, demographics have so far trumped momentum. If past is prologue, then the results in Illinois are nearly a forgone conclusion.

Share:

3 Comments

In the 2010 Illinois Gubernatorial Election, there were four counties (Cook, St. Clair, Alexander and Jackson) which supported Quinn. The last three are in Southern Illinois and were all rather close. This is considerably different than the 2008 Presidential Election in which the counties were split more evenly. The upshot is Cook (Chicago) and St. Clair (East St. Louis) carry the state for Illinois. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Obama is from Illinois.

No Mormons in Illinois? There are two temples, Chicago and Nauvoo and there are congregations in communities all across the Prairie State. No the percentages are not comparable to Utah, but we are still here.

A wonderful state with zero Republicans The State of Illinois
Some interesting data on the ‘state’ of Illinois…

There are more people on welfare in Illinois than there are people working.

Chicago pays the highest wages to teachers than anywhere else in the U.S. averaging $110,000/year. Their pensions average 80-90% of their income. Wow, are Illinois and Chicago great or what?
Speaking on Chicago, perhaps the U.S. should pull out of Chicago ?
Body count: In the last six months, 292 killed (murdered) in Chicago, 221 killed in Iraq. Remember Chicago has one of the strictest gun laws in the entire US.
Here’s the Chicago chain of command:
President: Barack Hussein Obama
Senator: Dick Durbin
House Representative: Jesse Jackson Jr.
Governor: Pat Quinn
House leader: Mike Madigan
Atty. Gen.: Lisa Madigan (daughter of Mike)
Mayor: Rohm Emanuel
The leadership in Illinois – all Democrats.
Thank you for the combat zone in Chicago.
Of course, they’re all blaming each other. Can’t blame Republicans; there aren’t any!
Chicago school system rated one of the worst in the country.
Can’t blame Republicans; there aren’t any!
State pension fund $78 Billion in debt, worst in country.
Can’t blame Republicans; there aren’t any!
Cook County ( Chicago ) sales tax 10.25% highest in country.
Can’t blame Republicans; there aren’t any!

This is the political culture that Obama comes from in Illinois. And he is going to ‘fix’ Washington politics for us?
George Ryan is no longer Governor, he is in the prison.
He was replaced by Rob Blajegovitch who is that’s right, also in the prison.
And Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. resigned a couple of weeks ago, because he is fighting to not be sent to…that’s right, prison.

The Land of Lincoln, where our governors make our license plates.
But you know what? As long as they keep providing entitlements to the population of Chicago, nothing is going to change, except the state will go broke before the country does.

Anybody who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the Government take care of him; better take a closer look at the American Indian.”